Meadows and Meadows

In *Meadows and Meadows*, heard by Stevenson J, the wife sought to set aside an order made by consent in family law proceedings. The dispute concerned the finalisation of property settlement between the parties, with the wife seeking to escape the terms of the agreement she had previously made.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the wife had established grounds to vitiate the consent orders. Specifically, the Court had to determine if the wife's allegations of misleading and deceptive conduct, or alternatively, undue influence or unconscionable conduct, were sufficient to justify setting aside the orders made by agreement.

Stevenson J applied the principles governing the setting aside of consent orders in family law. The Court noted that such orders are generally considered final and are only set aside in exceptional circumstances. Her Honour found that the wife had not discharged the onus of proving the alleged misleading and deceptive conduct, nor had she established the elements of undue influence or unconscionable conduct. The evidence did not support the claim that the wife was pressured into agreeing to the terms or that the agreement was manifestly unfair due to the circumstances of its making.

Consequently, the wife's application to set aside the consent orders was dismissed.